Members of the January 6th Committee

Every Committee requires members who will work on whatever focus the Committee has chosen. One of the first things the January 6th Committee did was select who would be part of it.

Representative Bennie G. Thompson (Democrat – Mississippi District 2) is the Chairman of Committee on Homeland Security and the Select Committee to Investigate the Attack on the U.S. Capitol. He is the person who announces who will be on the January 6th Committee.

“January 6th was an attempt to overthrow the government and our democracy,” said Chairman Thompson. “We need a comprehensive investigation into the attack, to find the facts and to prevent such an assault from ever again occurring. That is why, today, I am proud to name professional, patriotic public servants, who will ably and efficiently do just that.”

Representative Bennie G. Thompson

Here are the people that were selected as Senior Staff on July 22, 2021:

David Buckley – Staff Director

Former CIA Inspector General David Buckley is a controversial selection. According to Yahoo! News (on January 23, 2021), who obtained a previously unpublished 2019 report compiled by the Department of Homeland Security’s watchdog office. The report urged the CIA to take action against Buckley for his alleged retaliation against a whistleblower. Yahoo! News described that as “a conclusion that would likely be troubling to potential witnesses who might testify in the Jan. 6 inquiry.”

…The target of Buckley’s retaliation, former CIA IG official Andrew Bakaj, has yet to receive any remedy for a series of adverse actions that affected his career, including being put on administrative leave and having his security clearance suspended after cooperation with an external investigation into potential evidence manipulation at the CIA inspector general’s office.

Yahoo! News

There are several problems here. Yahoo! News reported: “The future of Buckley’s security clearance remains uncertain, and it is unclear whether the CIA heeded the report’s recommendations or took any action against him or or his former colleagues. The CIA declined to comment. Buckley did not immediately respond to a request to comment.”

On July 29, 2021, Project On Government Oversight (POGO) posted a release titled: “The January 6 Select Committee Must Remove David Buckley as Staff Director”. From the release:

We are incredibly disappointed that the House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol appears to have decided to keep David Buckley on staff as director despite a recently reported and substantiated complaint that Buckley retaliated against a whistleblower while leading the CIA’s inspector general office.

The Committee should remove Buckley as staff director and pledge to protect any whistleblowers who come forward during the committee’s investigation.

If the committee wants to proceed with integrity and get to the bottom of the attack on the Capitol, it must hire individuals who are committed to protecting whistleblowers. The select committee is tasked with a sensitive investigation that relies on hearing from government witnesses and whistleblowers. Hiring such an individual who has retaliated against a whistleblower in the past – and placing him in such a prominent position – sends a chilling message to potential witnesses…

Project on Government Oversight

The New York Times reported (on August 3, 2021) provided some additional information:

…Mr Bakaj began working for Mr. Buckley in 2012 in the C.I.A’.s inspector general office, where he was assigned to create a whistleblower protection program. In 2014, colleagues of Mr. Bakaj brought him allegations that other C.I.A. officers were manipulating evidence in a sealed case that had been referred to federal prosecutors, claims that agency officials brought to the inspector general’s office. When Mr. Buckley’s office did not act on the complaints, Mr. Bakaj brought the witnesses to the inspector general for the intelligence community, which under law also has jurisdiction to investigate allegations of wrongdoing at the C.I.A.

The intelligence community inspector general’s investigation ultimately found there was merit in the allegations Mr. Bakaj had flagged, and a federal judge vacated a guilty plea in the federal prosecution in question. But the C.I.A. opened an investigation of Mr. Bakaj, and then Mr. Buckley suspended his security clearance and placed him on administrative leave, contending he had wrongly shared information with the intelligence community inspector general, according to a government report on the events…

The New York Times

Kristin Amerling – Deputy Staff Director/Chief Counsel

According to her Linkedin profile, Kristin Amerling was Chief Counsel of the U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform from 1997-2008. She was Chief Counsel of the U.S. House Committee on Energy and Commerce from January 2009 through January 2012. She was President and Executive Director for Taxpayers Against Fraud Education Fund from January 2012 through April 2013.

She became the Chief Investigative Counsel and Director of Oversight on the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation in April of 2013 through December of 2014. Later that month, she became Deputy General Counsel for the Department of Transportation through 2016.

In 2016, Kristin Amerling became the Managing Director of Lanthorn Strategies. Her Linkedin profile explains that Lanthorn Strategies “Provides guidance to non-profit organizations on public policy issues concerning health, consumer protection, transportation, oversight and investigations, and other matters.”

In July of 2021, Kristin Amerling became the Deputy Staff Director and Chief Counsel for the House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States.

Information on the January 6th Committee website states that “…she helped lead high-profile investigations into and oversight of the federal government’s mismanagement of Hurricane Katrina, the War in Iraq, and the 2008 financial market meltdown”.

Hope Goins – Counsel to the Chairman

On October 3, 2021, Chicago Tribune posted an article titled: “As some Black staff members leave Congress, those left call for change”. It appears that the article originated at The New York Times, but I was unable to find a link to it. From the article:

…”People have to be set up for success,” said Hope Goins, staff director for Democrats on the House Homeland Security Committee, who drafts policy on issues including intelligence and immigration. As a supervisor of a staff of 40, she has worked with the committee’s chair, Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., to ensure diverse voices are involved in developing legislation…”

Chicago Tribune

Part of the information about Hope Goins on the January 6th Committee’s website says:

…Ms. Goins is responsible for advancing and coordinating all Committee policy and legislation with the leadership of the House of Representatives. For over a decade, Ms. Goins has also been Chairman Thompson’s most senior advisor on matters related to counterterrorism, countering violent extremism, domestic terrorism, intelligence, cyber security, natural disasters, civil rights and civil liberties. Ms Goins has also supervised high level congressional investigations of the Executive Branch, including investigations into the government’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic, and the government’s response to the threat from violent extremists.

January 6th Committee website

Candyce Phoenix – Senior Counsel/Senior Advisor

The Potomac School posted an article titled “Candyce Phoenix ’03”. It is unclear when it was published. From the article:

…Candyce received her B.A. in comparative ethnic studies from Columbia University in 2007 and her J.D. from Harvard University in 2010. Fresh out of law school, she was accepted into the U.S. Department of Labor’s Honors Program, a two-year immersive experience for outstanding law school graduates, run through the Solicitor of Labor’s Office (SOL)…

…During her rotation, Candyce authored an appellate brief for a ninth circuit court of appeals case, Pacific Shores Hospital v. United Behavioral Health and argued the case in California. Responding to a lower court’s decision supporting the denial of in-hospital insurance coverage for an extremely anorexic woman, Candyce’s argument demanded that courts apply a stricter standard of review to all denials of benefits under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act. She asserted that reviewing courts should approve benefit denials only after thorough consideration of the entire record, rather than essentially rubber-stamping them. DOL won the case… … As a result of her work, lower courts now conduct a more detailed review of insurance denials. This “impact litigation” helps guarantee insurance civil rights for countless people beyond the parties to the original case…

The Potomac School

The information about Candyce Phoenix on the January 6th Committee’s website says:

Candyce Phoenix is the Staff Director of the United States House of Representatives Subcommittee on Civil Rights and Civil Liberties under the Committee on Oversight and Reform. She is the top counsel for Chairman Jamie Raskin, responsible for conducting investigations and hearings into issues related to civil rights and liberties violations and criminal justice reform. In this role, she has managed an ongoing series of hearings and investigations into the domestic terror threat posed by white nationalists, as well as urged the Administration to develop a comprehensive plan to counter this threat.

Ms. Phoenix also served as a counsel for the second impeachment of President Donald J. Trump, helping research, gather and organize the factual record behind the former President’s involvement in the January 6th insurrection. Previously, she also served as a Senior Trial Attorney in the Civil Rights Division of the United States Justice Department, where she advanced equal employment opportunities and protections for all Americans.

January 6th Committee website

Tim Mulvey – Communications Director

The only information I could find on Tim Mulvey is what is posted on the January 6th Committee’s website:

Tim Mulvey is a communications professional with more than a decade of experience at senior levels of government. He most recently served as Communications Director for the United States House of Representatives Committee on Foreign Affairs, where he served as a senior spokesperson and strategic advisor to Chairman Eliot Engel. In this role, Mr. Mulvey led the majority staff in developing and implementing communications strategy around high-level hearings and legislation related to foreign affairs and national security issues. Previously, he served as a speechwriter at the State Department, serving two Secretaries of State.

January 6th Committee website

Members of the January 6th Committee is a post written by Jen Thorpe on Book of Jen and is not allowed to be copied to other sites.